The Dunes at Rockanje (Netherlands)

 

Our North Sea coast is special, but I only learned that when I realised that other coast lines have rocks, cliffs, pebble beaches or..   no sand beach and sand dunes. For me all this sand was 'normal' but now I really appreciate our coast much more.

Last week we were at the beach in Rockanje (The Netherlands) and we started walking from the parking place called 'Tweede Slag'. In the evening the beach is almost empty so it is a nice place for a walk in the wind, we enjoyed the fresh air, the views, the birds and had a great time. 

Of course I made some reference pictures, this time I wanted to paint our dunes - a seascape would be too easy, we had a blue sea and a blue sky with some clouds. The dark bushes, the grasses and the wind-blown shapes of the dunes inspired me.

Because it was getting late and the sun was behind me when I made the picture the plants on top of the dunes were dark, almost back lit. The clouds were getting dark as well. The slope has many shells or remains of shells as the birds nesting there feed on them. There is not really a path, that area is a reserve for the birds. Of course there are grasses growing on the slopes, on the tops there are small bushes.

In my watercolour painting I wanted to depict the height of the sand dunes at that point so I chose a high horizon and a 'portrait' format for my painting. Showing the contrasts between the dark vegetation and the light sand was one of my goals, and I am really happy with the result.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog. If you are interested in my work, please contact me.

Maasvlakte - Sunset 2

 

Last week we (my husband and me) went to see the sunset at the nearest beach, the Maasvlakte (Netherlands) and I have already painted a watercolour after the reference pictures I had made and made a blog post about that painting and a small description of the landscape we found there.

This scene is as the sunset was seen from the dunes, where we sat down for a while to find some shelter from the wind. From that relatively high spot I made several pictures which showed a very broad view of the landscape because I used my phone, which has a wide angle lens. The advantage of this is that I can select any part of the picture for my painting as these pictures are very high quality - so 'zooming in' causes no problems with losing the high definition of the image.

For this painting I was inspired by the sunset colours (no surprise here), not only in the sky and the reflections in the water, but also on the sand of the dunes. In broad daylight the sand is almost white, but in these light conditions even the sand had a red colour which I like very much. I enjoyed it to paint this and find the right colour because there was also a shadow on the sand, cast by the single line of beachgrass that we passed on our way to a soft spot to sit down. 

The footsteps show we were not the first to find a resting place in that area during that day. These footsteps are softened a bit in the painting, because they are not my subject, but do make the composition more interesting. 

As the tide was retreating there still was a lot of water between the sandbanks forming little streams catching the last sunlight forming some very nice dark and light contrasts. In fact this is one of the things that made me choose this part of the reference picture for my painting.

Compared to my previous painting, the sunset colours are all more yellow-orange, that is of course because the sun was still higher when I made the reference picture.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this painting and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.

In the Dunes

 

The reference picture for this painting was made by my husband Peter during a walk in the dunes with colleagues - so I was not there and only saw the pictures afterwards. 
The pictures stayed 'in stock' until inspiration would hit me. 
I am still trying to paint according to the advise I was given during my painting vacation - atmosphere first, details only when needed - and this scene is perfect for such a painting style.

A few days ago I have made a visit to my art supply store and I bought some Winsor&Newton Watercolour paper and of course I had to try that. Only after I had opened the plastic protecting the block I found out that this is a cellulose paper so I had to adapt a bit, as I usually paint on cotton paper. (W&N also has cotton paper)
This paper is different than my usual quality but I like the differences and they are not hard to deal with. 

These Dunes at the end of winter are showing only the dark branches of the bushes (that will be green in summer) and the sand in between. While working I changed the scene a bit to get a better painting and I am really happy with the result.

More information (size, materials used, availability, contact information, etc) can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

The Lighthouse of Texel and the dune landscape around it

During our short vacation on our largest Wadden Island Texel, we drove to the Eierland lighthouse and made several pictures of the landscape of that area.
The lighthouse is the most important landmark of the island, situated at the most northern point of Texel. It is said that when you go straight north from that point you will have only sea until you reach the North Pole.

We wanted to see the dry sandbanks of the Wadden Sea (and we saw them) but we also saw a small dune lake and went out of the car to make some pictures. 

Of course we were on Texel at the end of winter and the colours are a bit different then, but I decided to 'imagine' an early spring for my watercolour.
I chose to use a portrait format this time to give the Eierland Lighthouse some more attention.

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Texel in winter: the Dunes of 'De Muy' - charcoal

On our short trip to Texel I brought my drawing materials, as I have already written in my previous post. My charcoal was packed also and I have made some charcoal drawings.
This is the first one, after a reference picture I have made in the dune landscape of 'De Muy', a bird reserve that is only open for the public outside of the breeding season. 
There were a lot of birds in the area who were busy staying warm and sheltered because of the very cold wind we had these days.

I was inspired by the vastness of the area and because we were on a relatively high spot we had a wide view to all sides. For a short time the wind was a little less strong so I took the camera and quickly made several pictures to all sides.
Back in the hotel I selected the picture that would be most suited for a charcoal drawing and set to work.

Of course I can draw or paint a scenery like this showing the vastness and the signs of winter, but I cannot really draw the cold wind that forced us to walk on and withheld me from making much more reference pictures.

More information about this charcoal drawing can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Impressions of "Winter on Texel"

Last week we had booked a nice hotel on our largest Wadden Island, Texel for a few days vacation. Because hotel rooms are not meant to be transformed into a painting studio, I only packed my drawing materials.
The weather turned out to be very very cold, so we did not walk outdoors as much as we usually do when on vacation.
This scene is very close to the hotel, we only had to walk over the dunes to find the North Sea coast. Sunset was to be in an hour but it was too cold, the wind was too strong to wait for it. I made some reference pictures and later in the evening I tried a graphite pencil drawing. I am not unhappy with the result - for a first try.

The second day of our vacation was still very cold with a very strong wind from the East. As we were at the western coast of the island, walking in the dunes, it was possible to make a walk of about 7 km. We did not stop long to make pictures and did not stop at all to eat our lunch (we ate that in the car, after the walk) and returned to the hotel early in the afternoon. 
This is from memory, as it was too cold to take off my gloves to hold the camera at this point. The dunes of "De Muy" - a bird protection area - were looking very unforgiving, possibly because of the winter season. I used my Tinted Charcoal pencils here on watercolour paper, as an experiment. 

The third day of our vacation we went looking for the dry sandbanks of the Wadden Sea. The most northern part of Texel is where we had to be to have a chance to see what I wanted to see. We were warned not to go walking on the dry sand because at that point it is quicksand and very dangerous. The "wad" was covered with a layer of ice,but we did see some sandbanks. Sheltered by the dunes and dykes I made some reference pictures at different places close by the lighthouse of Texel, where we had access to the shoreline.
We returned to the warmth of the hotel early in the afternoon again and I made a second graphite drawing.

These three drawings were meant to become accustomed to my pencils and to explore the possibilities they give me. 

More information can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com 

Ssssh - bird sanctuary!

One of my favourite places to go for a hike is the Kalmthoutse Heide. This  Natural Reserve is situated partly in The Netherlands, partly in Belgium and the management is shared by several organisations.
The Kalmthoutse Heide is very close to the place we live so it is easy to go for a walk when the weather turns out to be nice. There are many signposted walks and I think we have explored them all by now. Of course we can walk there all seasons and see the changes. We also started to walk the pathways anti-clockwise for a change in perspective.

Some areas are closed for public during the breeding season. The reference picture for this painting was taken looking into one of those areas while I was standing behind the fence. The paths that can be seen are forbidden to walk on from March until July.
The birds were not always to be seen, but they made their presence very clear on this warm spring day.

The heather plants are still brown, many of the grasses are dry and yellow, but green moss and grass is showing itself already.
Most of the trees and bushes have started to unfold their leaves, this pine tree is having fresh green needles amongst the older ones.
The trees and bushes in the background are all pine trees, this part of the Kalmthoutse Heide is sandy and relatively dry.

I have tried to paint the beginning of springtime and I hope I have succeeded.
For this painting I have been ignoring my ready-made greens and mixed the colours I wanted using blue, yellow and some sienna or violet for the shadow parts.
This is a nice challenge for me because not all 'blue' and 'yellow' mixtures make a nice, transparent green. But still, despite the challenge part, I really am happy with the mixtures I have now and think the painting results are better than with the mixtures I get using the ready-made sap green and other greens.

More information about this painting and the ones I have made during the past years inspired by the Kalmthoutse Heide can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com